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Saturday 29 May 2010

Nature's rare accessories



The tree of knowledge, eh? At Chelsea Flower Show a wicker sculpture (the sort of thing you might see festooned with tempting floral treats in a department store), formed the centerpiece of a ‘biodiversity display’. The aim: to seduce the public into doing anything and everything to encourage insects and birds to visit their gardens. However, only certain plants and flowers appeal to butterflies and bees... and possibly not the likes of this strangely inventive creation.

These days, all ‘great ideas’ seem to require celebrity endorsement. The tree of knowledge was no exception, with luvvies like Jeremy Irons and Greg Wise offering their penny’s worth. Mr Wise even penned a rather luvverly poem, imploring us to ‘be less tidy’, ‘let things rot’ and ‘embrace decay’. Cheers, Greg!





My favourite gardens are invariably where the wild things are. A stunning entry at the show was L’Occitane's Provencal garden with its luxurious lavender beds – great for bees… plus wonderfully gnarled olive trees and ruggedly unadulterated rocky terraces. M&G's traditional English garden was nice, and, I suppose, guaranteed to be a winner – being the show's official sponsor and all of that.





And Leeds City Council's garden, sponsored by Hesco Bastion, was awesomely overgrown, with the rather contrived addition of a model canal lock (I can’t imagine that was entirely cast from eco-friendly materials?)

Anyway, seeing these delightfully unkempt plots reminded me that the winged insect I haven’t seen much of in recent years (despite living by the river) is the dragonfly. Dragonflies apparently gobble up all manner of curious bugs, okay they eat some butterflies and bees too - but also mosquitoes, which could come in handy with global warming. They’re curiously colourful as well, and imbued with symbolism and cultural significance in many parts of the world.





At ShopCurious, we’ve been promoting the benefits of naturally beautiful things for ages, which is why we’ve got plenty of nature inspired jewellery and accessories on offer - this unique Art Nouveau style dragonfly brooch being the perfect example.

Knowledge may be a dangerous thing, but birds and bees are a safe bet any day. I reckon seeing a few more dragonflies might be good news for biodiversity too.

Do you?

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Love this... <3

xoxo* by Portugal
http://ivaniadiamond.blogspot.com

;)*

Jan said...

I've been trying to get my head around biodiversity for some time.
Hey ho.
Loved the L'Occitaine garden (looks good on photos anyway)
I imagine it smelled gorgeous!

Susan said...

Hello Ivania, thanks for popping by!

Jan, I love L'Occitane's scents, but curiously, I can't recall any smells from Chelsea... though I did hear quite a few sneezes around me, so there must have been plenty of pollen in the air. Never mind, my little lemon trees here on the other side of the river smell divine.

Glad you enjoyed the quilts exhibition - hope you get to see Grace Kelly too..

LenoreNeverM♡re said...

One of my dreams is to attend the Chelsea Flower show Susan! That is one whimsical creation~
xo

Mónica said...

There are some projects, like the H&M Garden collection, which seems to be helping with biodiversity.. I am not that sure though

I like L'Occitane products, but it is quite expensive..

worm said...

that wicker scupture reminds me of the 'wicker man' with the big buttocks standing next to the M5 at Bridgewater.

I've worked doing the marketing for a chelsea flower show garden before, most exhausting! and I never even got the chance to visit the show :( I'd love to go, it looks great!

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Susan said...

The wicker man is definitely a curiosity, worm - I hadn't really noticed the buttocks, but now you mention them..

Stephane, your site is really curious too. Hope you will follow ShopCurious blog as well. x